Saturday, February 13, 2010

Week 4 Day 1

Whew! On the ascent to jogger-style fitness, the first three weeks represent the foothills and now in Week 4 the climb kicks into some higher elevation. The routine for this week is the same for all three days:

5-minute warmup walk

3-minute jog; 1.5-minute walk

5-minute jog; 2.5-minute walk

3-minute jog; 1.5-minute walk

5-minute jog; 5-minute cooldown walk

Not counting the bookend walks, it's 16 minutes of jogging versus 5.5 minutes walking. In Week 3, there was a total of 9 minutes jogging. Mathematically, I would state this situation as follows: 16 >>> 9. I kept the incline at 1%, wiggled at 3.3 mph, and jiggled at 4.5 mph. The video below is at about the halfway point of the first 3-minute jog.

I used the cardio belt to measure heart rate continuously. My heart rate got as high as 171 with about a minute remaining on the second 5-minute jog. I thought real hard about form, trying to be smooth and relaxed, and by the time the jog was over I had it down to 167. There was no point that I thought my legs or breathing were failing me, but the last 5-minute jog was non-easy. Ninety seconds isn't much recovery time, at least for me, and my heart rate had just clicked down to 149 when the podcast guy said "Okay, ready for your final five minute run?!" I did not answer him. I just stoically typed in 4.5 mph and gritted it out.

Just look at the joy on my face there! I'm pretty sure I set a sweat record. And this time I had it measured: I lost two pounds of sweat. If I could just do this workout 15 times in a row, I'd reach my target weight. (And also be a lifeless piece of beef jerky.) There were several times during the exercise when I told myself: "Remember to smile." I don't know if that was altogether helpful, but as tough as this workout was, I think my legs have made it through unscathed.